Bahrain Bourse green light for amendments

12/11/2015 08:38 AST

Bahrain Bourse has given the green light to amendments on listing requirements for listed shareholding companies effective within six months.

Upon the approval of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), the bourse chairman Yusuf Abdulla Humood issued the resolution regarding amending the listing requirements of the listed shareholding companies on the main board in Bahrain Bourse, including the currently listed companies on the bourse and the companies that intend to list their securities in the future.

According to the resolution, all the listed shareholding companies on Bahrain Bourse are required to take the necessary procedures to amend their status in line with the amendments stated in the resolution, which includes registering and depositing the issued shares in the clearing, settlement, central depository and registry system in the Bourse, provided that the establishment and management of the shareholders’ record in the company is in line with the electronic registry system licensed by the CBB and approved by the bourse.

The resolution also raises the minimum capital of the listed company to BD1 million or its equivalent in other currencies, in addition to raising the minimum company’s shareholders to 100 excluding the shareholders from the company’s employees, staff, and key persons and their directly related people.

Additionally, the resolution approved a number of amendments related to the company’s profitability, its financial conditions, the balance of its financial structure, and its performance efficiency by applying the requirements of transparency and disclosure standards, and corporate governance standards issued by the CBB.

Bahrain Bourse chief executive Shaikh Khalifa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said that the resolution is a major step in the history of the capital market sector in Bahrain with respect to the listing requirements, especially the part related to depositing of shares of companies in the clearing, settlement, central depository and registry in the bourse and the minimum tradable stocks, which opens the door wide to the bourse for integration and interconnection with the GCC and global exchanges and it will also contribute in offering more opportunities to the citizens to invest in the Bahraini shareholding companies.

Shaikh Khalifa said that applying the new amendments will enable the bourse to bridge the gap to accommodate the unified listing requirements in the GCC stock markets.

He also revealed that the bourse in the coming few days will execute a number of practical steps to implement this resolution in co-ordination with the relevant parties.

Gulf Daily News